Thursday, August 30, 2012

"The Democratic Party is becoming more and more institutionally hostile to Christian faith"

There is a version of Christianity that is recognizably Christian and engaged in progressive social
reform. For the United States, this form of liberal Christianity has led the abolitionists and the Rev. Martin Luther King, among others, to make the world a better place.

Some argue that modernity has rendered Christianity obsolete, and Hubbard represents the influence of New Age elements and Eastern religions. Within progressive Christianity, there is also a middle ground and an overlap between these two views.

I am a political conservative, but I want there to be a vital Christianity that is associated with liberal politicians. You can’t have Christianity as only the religion of the Republican Party.

The peril for groups like the LCWR is that they are so invested into pushing "beyond the beyond" they will leave Christianity entirely. I would much rather they had invited [Vice President Joe] Biden than Hubbard. It is dangerous for Christianity to be associated with post-Christian movements.

At the end of the book, I talk about the obligation of Christians and Catholics to be Christian without being partisan. Catholic politicians can identify with their party, but they should also demonstrate a Catholic difference.

That is difficult to do when the framework is so polarized. The Democratic Party is becoming more and more institutionally hostile to Christian faith — that is an absolute and an inescapable reality.

In my book, I cite Chuck Colson, who was deeply engaged in conservative activism and also in prison ministry — not a traditionally Republican cause. We need more of that. The bishops should prod politicians to go beyond partisanship.

American politics would be in better shape if we had more pro-life Democrats, but there is almost no sign of that. Rep. Bart Stupak’s fate during the health-care debate, when he was pulled back and forth in a polarized landscape, reflects the problem.